What are the odds of a US-North Korean conflict?

Since the inception of present-day North Korea at the end of the Korean war in 1953, North Korea has been a point of concern for the global stability. Most of the international relations pundits believe if there will be any large-scale conflict in the world after WW2 that will surely involve North Korea. The situation has developed into more complex one after the nuclearization of North Korea. Previous US administrations have tried to use diplomacy to solve the Korean problem and have miserably failed. After the disintegration of the soviet union, the consecutive US Administration believed that North Korea would follow the Soviet example and would be engulfed in an internal conflict and the problem will solve itself. But this has certainly not happened and North Korea has come out stronger and stronger militarily and in political stability and policy of "isolating itself from outside world" has certainly helped in it.

Currently, the scope of a US-North Korean conflict is all-time high as the frequency of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing has been highest with 11 launches till November this year(2017) and more to come according to North Korean state-run media. The possibility of war also increases with the election of Trump because the trump administration has not made its policy on North Korea clear.Either way war in the Korean peninsula will be devastating for all the participants as it will result in mind-boggling casualties and a possibility of a nuclear detonation makes it even more terrifying. One of the possibilities of a war could be a preemptive strike by the united states and this could only happen when US government believes that there is no other alternative to solving the crisis than a military option.

Miscalculation is another terrifying aspect by which war could start in the Korean peninsula. This could happen if an early warning radar system picks up a North Korean test and assumes it is headed to the mainland US or going to hit Japan, South Korea or any other US territory in the Pacific.

This crisis is not going to be solved easily as the US and North Korea has no official line of communication and both are stuck to the topic of nuclear weapons in which the US demands that North Korea give up its nuclear arsenal and with North Korea saying that it is even not an option.